Hearts and Minds
by Pinak000
Summary: He wanders endlessly. For atonement, he says; To secure the peace they had fought so hard for. Logically, he knew he had to keep searching. But his heart began to yearn for something else. Sorry, I suck at summaries! Read inside, mainly SasuSaku Sara
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The story begins at the end of Sakura Hiden :)**

* * *

 **Home, The First Time 'round**

A dark haired man walked through the busy streets of the sun-blazed village. The sand penetrating and persisting in his sandals as he sped through the crowd, turban low to hide his face. As much as he could care less about the rumors spreading about him, it was best to avoid any unnecessary confrontation with allied nations' shinobi. So he kept to the shadows.

"Did you hear what's happening in Konoha?" A voice behind him bellowed.

He didn't mean to listen, in fact, he quickened his pace even more. Even out and far away from the village as he was now, he has and always will be a Leaf shinobi. For all he knows, they were talking about the blasphemous rumors currently surrounding him.

"Yeah, sounds serious. It's that lady from the war, right? The medic with the slugs."

The young man frowned, slowing his pace slightly at the mention of this. There were many medics during the war, but there was only two he knew that could summon Katsuyu.

"Is she dead?"

He swallowed hard at the thought. If the medic in question was who he thought it was, well...

"No. Missing. The Hokage cancelled a conference with the other kages to help look for her."

"Damn. Konoha's a mess right now."

"Tell me about it. First the Uchiha, now her. And to think, she was here not too long ago-"

He's heard enough. He moved quickly out of the crowd and into an empty, isolated alley. It was times like this he thanked Naruto for keeping him updated with the goings back home. And as far as he was concerned, Sakura had just gotten home from a conference in Suna a few days ago. He had barely missed her.

A portal opened before him as commanded. It was time to go home.

As soon as he stepped through, he sensed multiple chakra signatures coming his way.

"N-no way-" A masked man spat, stopping himself and several similarly dressed people behind him. "Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke could feel the man's troubled glare behind his mask as they made eye contact.

The man, he assumed to be leading the group of ANBU behind him, turned to his colleagues. "Break up!" He spat at them. "And make sure you take him down!"

The young Uchiha made no move to attack. Instead, he defended and repelled their attacks while looking for the right chance.

As they attacked him with taijutsu and threw kunais at him, he observed quietly as they instinctively fell close together. The fell into a formation and weaved hand signs for water-

He quickly weaved a too familiar sign of his own and as water went directly his way, he disrupted the attack with a fireball jutsu, creating a heavy mist around them. Immediately, he activated his sharingan and put the ANBU corp before him under a heavily induced genjutsu. He stood still as their bodies fell one by one.

He approached their leader, releasing him from the hallucination and searched his memories. His eyes glowed a dangerous red as he searched the ninja's mind.

There, he saw it all: The pill for his sharingan, their kidnapping **her** and her escape, their scuffle and his defeat.

"We're gonna descend!" A familiar voice broke through his reverie.

Sasuke looked up to the skies and saw three birds and six very familiar faces. Quickly, he left the unconscious ANBUs midst and hid in the forest behind him, cloaking his chakra signature.

He watched from the shadows. The owner of the pair of emerald orbs he worried about widened her eyes as her breath hitched. He let himself smile at the sight of her. She was fine.

The pinkette looked at his direction with strained eyes, but frowned as she couldn't sense his masked chakra.

"Hey, what do you think this even is?" Ino quipped. "What happened here?"

The older man beside them crossed his arms, examining the area. "It looks like someone already took care of these guys for us." He stated.

The blonde woman widened her eyes. "Who could it be?"

Kakashi turned to his team. The new Team 7. "Don't you guys get it?" He grinned, ear to ear.

Sakura smiled brightly. "Yup!"

Sasuke swore his own breath hitched. He expected the reaction from her, but her smile was still something else.

Naruto laughed loudly as he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and even Sai had realized what the Hokage suggested and nodded with a smile.

The blonde's eyes widened even more. "Ehhh?" She screeched disbelievingly. "You can't mean- Sasuke-kun!?"

The other blond beside him grinned. "Well, yeah!" He yelled.

Ino still couldn't believe it. "The _real_ one?! Are you serious?!"

The Hokage laughed. "It would have to be the real one." He smiled. "I'm sure of it."

"What the...? Why was Sasuke-kun even here?" The young woman pried.

Sai turned to the silver haired man. "He returned from his journey, right? He must have set out again."

"No way." The blonde shook her head. "That's too cold, even for him." She quipped. "The village is right there." She pointed to Konoha's gates a little further behind them. "He could have dropped by and said hi to us at least. Right, Sakura?"

The young Uchiha turned his sights back to the medic.

"Yeah...I guess so..." She trailed, looking back out to the forest.

"I mean," Naruto began with a chuckle. "It's just very much like him to do that." He grinned. "He did what he had to then set back out. Sounds exactly like what he would do."

Sakura shook her head with a smile and a soft laugh. "So true."

Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle himself. They weren't **wrong**...

"Y'know, though..." Kakashi began with a sigh, arms on his waist. "Since you guys took down Kido's lot and all," He looked pointedly at the pink haired kunoichi. "I thought it was finally going to be my turn to shine." He looked back to the unconscious bodies around them. "However, it seems like Sasuke stole my thunder."

The three girls laughed.

Sai on the other hand, gave him a sincere smile. "If you've got so much energy to burn, why don't you run home, sensei?" He asked. "The five of us will take the birds back to the village."

Kakashi grimaced and immediately replied, "Can we not do such pointlessly exhausting activities, please? That sounds more like something Guy would do."

Listening to their Hokage's light hearted banter, everyone laughed.

Sasuke shook his head at his former sensei's antics and watched on as Sai called for the birds.

His loud, blond friend weaved a hand sign. "My shadow clones will stand guard here." He said. "We can go back to the village and send people to retrieve them."

The Hokage nodded and mounted on one of the birds. "Same partners?" He smiled, reaching out a hand to Sakura.

The sharingan wielder couldn't act fast enough on the frown that formed on his lips when the woman in question took Kakashi's hand and mounted the bird behind him. His frown deepened even more when she wrapped her arms around his waist.

The image stuck with the young man long after the group had left. "I should go back..." He muttered quietly, thinking back to how Kakashi seemed a little too happy to have Sakura wrapping her arms around him.

He closed his eyes and clicked his tongue. "Tch." It was one thing to stray from his mission objective, it was another to get jealous at his former sensei's all too happy smile when Sakura-

He shook the thought out of his head and looked up to the skies with a sigh. "Looks like I'm going home." He said with a slight smile.

* * *

 **A/N: I would love it if you guys could leave a review. I haven't written in a few years, so your opinions would be greatly appreciated!**

 **Once again, I hope you liked it! Leave a review please :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke leaned back on the wall with closed eyes. "...I would need to leave soon." He stated. "I found a lead near Sunagakure."

"Aa." Replied the Hokage. He had propped his elbows on the desk and entwined his fingers together, listening carefully to the younger man's report. "I'll have a copy of your report sent to the Kazekage." He paused, leaning back in his seat with a more relaxed posture. "They would want to know what's happening around their village."

The younger man nodded and pushed himself off the wall, turning to leave the Hokage office.

"Have you gone to see her yet?" There was mischief in the Hokage's voice. "She was hoping to see you when you had fought off the defectors a few days ago."

"I'm about to."

Kakashi nodded, glancing out the windows behind him. "Well," He began, turning back to his former student. "The sun isn't out yet, she must still be at home."

Sasuke stopped right before the door, hand firmly grasping the knob. "The other day..." He trailed, eyes narrowing into a glare as he remembered the scene from a few days before. "...When she was kidnapped..."

The older man grinned behind him, tapping his nose. "I picked up your scent a mile away." He added cheerily. "It didn't matter whether you cloaked your chakra or not."

"Hn." Sasuke smirked, turning his head slightly to the silver haired ninja. "So what was that for?"

The Hokage chuckled. "I was just trying to help her out." He gave him a wrinkled eye smile. "I thought you might want to come home immediately if you got jealous enough."

"I'm not jealous." He frowned.

"Then why are you here?" Kakashi poked.

Sasuke turned to him fully now still frowning. "I had to report back sooner or later."

The older man leaned back in his chair, arms folded across his chest as he gave the younger man a raised eyebrow. "You could have sent your hawk like always."

"This is important information-" He glared.

"What's so important about it?" The Hokage said in a teasing tone. "You just surmised a lead."

He clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner, shifting his weight to his right in a defensive posture. "It's an **important** lead-"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Wait, Naruto!"

Two familiar voices interrupted the two shinobi's conversation as the door behind the Uchiha opened with a bang.

"Sasuke?!"

The young man turned and nodded, greeting his friend. "Naruto." He eyed the man behind him. "Shikamaru."

The latter gave him a knowing look and smirk. "So you're back, Sasuke."

"Oi, Sasuke!" The blond cheered, stepping closer to him with a grin. "We've been waiting for you!"

The silver haired man behind them sighed audibly. "You three," He began lazily. "It's too early to be this noisy." He stated. "Get out."

Shikamaru began to remove the two from the office.

"You too, Shikamaru." Kakashi added, pointing the three of them to leave.

Naruto's grin grew wider. "Cool!" He yelled, wrapping an arm around the Hokage's adviser. "Day off for you, Shikamaru! Let's go get something to eat to celebrate the bastard's return!"

Sasuke moved towards the door. "I have plans actually-"

"Let's go!" Naruto raced out with Shikamaru held by one hand while his other grabbed Sasuke as he rushed out.

Kakashi could hear Shikamaru as they exited the tower.

"Tch. What a drag..."

* * *

Sakura dragged her feet out the door, clasping down a yawn.

"Let's go to Ichiraku's!"

The young woman rolled her eyes at the loud voice of her friend. He must be with Hinata again, she thought. There weren't that many reasons for the blond to be so enthusiastic so early in the morning.

She closed the door behind her and leisurely walked down the flight of stairs of her apartment building. It wasn't a usual thing for her to get up so early before her shift at the hospital, but it was is if something pushed her to get up and get an early start. So she was off to the training grounds.

"They have a new special-"

Sleepy green eyes rolled once more, stopping at the bottom of the staircase, waiting for her friend to turn the corner.

"Hey," Her eyes tightened with a shake of a head as she prepared to scold him. "People are still sleeping-"

"Sakura." Another familiar voice interrupted her.

Her eyes widened at the sound of baritone.

"Heh, Sakura-chan!" The blonde gave her a sheepish grin. "Look who I found in Kakashi-Sensei's office?"

The kunoichi stared at the raven haired man momentarily before regaining her composure. Hands folded behind her back she smiled at him. "Sasuke-kun." Her voice was gentle and sweet as it always was when she spoke to him, as was the blush she never could fight at sight of his sudden appearance. "Welcome home."

Sasuke kept his gaze on her. "Thank you."

"You wanna join us for breakfast, Sakura-chan?"

The pinkette turned to her friend, broken out of her reverie and smiled apologetically. "I'm actually headed to the training grounds." She looked past her two former teammates. "Hey, Shikamaru!" She greeted.

The latter who had remained silent until now gestured to greet her. "G'morning..." He yawned.

"Wanna join us for breakfast, Sakura-chan?"

"Ramen?" She asked, turning a skeptical gaze to her friend. "For breakfast?"

The young man grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I haven't been there in forever! I've been so busy studying-"

"Liar!" She interrupted, narrowing her eyes dangerously at him. "I can smell the Ramen in your breathe!"

Sasuke watched the two bicker with feigned disinterest. He had always known the two to bicker but seeing them now just shows how close they are. Unreasonable as it may sound to him, what if-

"They're gonna go at it for a while." Shikamaru's voice interrupted his thoughts.

He turned to the brunette, wordlessly asking what he should do.

"Take your pick." The young genius nodded to the two before them. "I'll take whichever you don't." He smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Hn."

"Don't you have any respect for your body-" The kunoichi stopped and looked up. "Sasuke-kun?"

"Hey, teme, Ichiraku's is the other way!"

Sasuke paused in his tracks. "I'm not hungry." He said simply, turning his head slightly to the two. "It's going to get hot before you get to the training grounds if you don't start moving."

Before Naruto could utter another word, Shikamaru takes him by the arm, pulling roughly. "Come on." He grumbled, leaving the two behind them.

"R-right."

* * *

It hadn't dawned on her that since Sasuke had accompanied her to the training grounds, he'd also offer to spar with her.

It hadn't dawned on him either that sparring with Sakura would mean extremely close proximity and a lot of heavy heaving. No, he doesn't know much about what he was feeling, but he knew he needed to touch her.

He had cupped her face gently when he pressed her against a tree, earning a surprised gasp. No, he's not sure what he wants to do next, but her parted lips were drawing him in. He lowered his head towards her slowly, waiting for a reaction.

She flushed heavily, partly because of the exhausting sparring session she just had but mostly because Sasuke was so close.

"Sakura-"

"-Sasuke-kun-"

 _BEEP BEEP_

The two turned their heads quickly at the direction of the offending object.

"Oh," Sakura pulled away, realizing it was her hospital beeper. She frowned, running towards it. "I'm sorry." She began, wiping the sweat off her forehead before turning to the man behind her. "I'm being called in."

Sasuke simply nodded his head, tucking his arm back into his cloak. "Go."

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Thank you for sparring with me."

The pinkette made to turn and run off to work as Sasuke prepared to leave as well.

"Sasuke-kun!" She called, making him turn back to face her.

He stared at her smiling face.

"Welcome home."


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke closed his eyes in frustration. "Will you be serious for once?" He snapped.

"But this is so boring-"

The young Uchiha opened his eyes with a deadly glare, revealing a familiar red. "You usuratonkachi!"

The blond in front of him raised his hands in defense. "No need to take out the sharingan,teme!" He laughed nervously, remembering the last time he was trapped in a Uchiha-induced genjutsu. "I'll read it again!"

"Naruto." Sasuke began firmly, pinching the bridge of his nose with a defeated sigh. "Don't you think you've got a little too much on your hands?"

His best friend looked up from the text book in front of him. "What do you mean?"

"Academic wise," He began, gesturing over the scattered papers and text books in the room. "You're a genin learning to be Hokage." He paused, meeting his friend's eyes. "And you're splitting your time pursuing a relationship with the Hyuga-"

Naruto raised a hand. "Stop right there." He said. "Hinata-chan is supporting me and helping me." He smiled, blue eyes narrowing into slits. "And always keeping me company."

He sighed once more. "You're distracted."

"I'm in love." The blond corrected.

Sasuke wasn't sure what to say next. His lips tightened thinly.

The orange-jacket clad man grinned with a bashful smile. "So much has happened." He began. "My dream is still to be Hokage and I won't stop going after it." He smiled. "I can't see myself getting there without her." He paused, looking out the opened window. "She gives me strength."

Silence enveloped them, as if Naruto purposely stopped to let him ponder on the thought.

The blond took a peek at him. "Maybe if you would actually let her know how you feel-"

"Shut up."

"I'm just sayin'" He grinned teasingly. "It's not like she doesn't feel-"

Naruto was cut short when the loud sound of an alarm rang from outside.

The two men shared a short look before realizing the alarm came from the hospital.

Naruto ran towards the window to see ominous smoke coming from the hospital's vicinity.

"Sasuke-"

He didn't get to finish what he wanted to say as when he turned back to the last Uchiha, he was already gone.

* * *

Sasuke didn't waste time when he arrived on scene. He was headed towards the destroyed hospital bridge when he was stopped.

"Sasuke!" A familiar voice called.

The young man turned back to his former sensei with a frown. "How serious is this that you were called?"

"Sakura's in there with an unidentified threat." The silver haired man stated. "That's enough to get me off my ass."

He glanced back towards the smoke. "She won't be there." He began, looking over the crowd of people. "The children..." He trailed, looking around once more.

"On the second floor." Kakashi pointed to the building on the right. "That's where her program is at."

Sasuke frowned at the sight of the building. "The exits are blocked." He stated. "She could easily leave."

"She won't, not when her patients are there."

"The building could collapse at any moment at this point-."

"There's no point of entry or exit from this end-"

"-The rescue team won't be able to enter without disrupting its balance."

"-Sakura will need to find a way out herself."

"Hn."

"Sasuke-!"

The Sixth Hokage watched in alarm as his former student entered the insecure building, quietly hoping his entrance won't shift the delicate balance.

His shoulders slumped with a sigh as Sasuke disappeared into the smoke and the building kept its ground.

"He can be such an idiot sometimes..." He muttered.

* * *

Sasuke wasn't surprised when he saw Sakura guiding the children out the window. He was surprised when the last one had gotten out and she turned around to run the opposite direction.

"Sakura!" He called, using his cloak as a shield from the smoke.

The pink haired woman stopped, surprised to see him. "Sasuke-kun?!"

There was a look of uncertainty in her eyes before she ran off again.

He followed after her immediately, running through the smoke and fire. He contemplated for a second whether or not to take the embers out but banished the thought when Sakura disappeared into a corridor.

He was only a few steps behind her when he heard an angry, muffled voice.

"Release Lord Kido!" The voice yelled.

Sasuke stopped at the corner, not far from Sakura, well hidden from the man at the other end of the corridor, but visible to the kunoichi.

The man wore the traditional Anbu gear and mask. His left hand was clasped down tightly on a little boy's mouth, muffling his cries. His other hand held a kunai dangerously close to the child's neck.

"I keep telling you," Sakura glared. "I'm not the right person to ask for that!"

The man chuckled darkly. "You're the hokage's bitch." He yelled.

Sasuke grimaced.

"He'll do anything you want."

Sakura's posture changed. Her feet separated, ready to launch forward. "The hokage would never release a traitor at his doctor's request!" She yelled, quickly taking out a kunai and throwing it pass the Anbu.

The man deftly moved to his left, child in tow. "You're skills have _dulled_." He mocked. "You're nowhere as skilled as I've heard, Haruno Sakura."

The kunoichi smirked, standing upright. "Did I?"

It took the man a second to process what was happening before Sasuke had knocked him out cold.

The little boy cried, running towards Sakura's open arms.

"Ichigo!" She held the child closer, before pulling away to examine him. "Are you okay?!"

Sasuke watched quietly as her emerald eyes moved over the little boy's body, trying to find cuts or bruises. Her hands moved quickly and gently to cup his face before her lips stretched into a smile.

She heaved a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness!" She smiled, before turning to him.

"Sasuke-kun!" She called, carrying the boy into her arms. "Our exit-"

"I know." He cut her off, turning to his side to open a portal.

Sakura ran quickly over to him with the child in her arms, still crying, when the floor beneath her feet crumbled.

Sasuke's eyes widened as Sakura tripped over, nearly falling. Fortunately, he had reached out to pull her towards him with her free hand.

He held her close as the floor crumbled further.

"Thank you." She smiled, gripping the child tighter as her emerald eyes glistened gratefully for his quickness.

The kunoichi couldn't help but notice how he had looked away abruptly when she smiled. She also wasn't sure if it was because of the heat, but a tint of pink had made its way to his cheeks.

His hand remained protectively around her as he pulled her into the portal.

They were immediately greeted by familiar faces in which time Sasuke had already pulled away from her.

From the way Naruto was grinning at him though, it seems that he could have pulled away faster.

* * *

Sakura's hands glowed green as they made their way to his face.

She bit back a frown. "I'm sorry for worrying you..." She muttered under her breath, eyes focused on treating his eye.

"I wasn't worried." He grumbled with a pout. He'd have looked away by now if he could. "I was just in the area-"

"He was **totally** worried, Sakura-chan!" Naruto interrupted enthusiastically, ruffling Sasuke's head of hair.

It seems he had overused his rinnegan already over the past few days. After the portal had closed behind them earlier, he wavered slightly to which his best friend had caught him. Now, under the hokage's orders, he was benched over to be seen by a doctor. Which happens to be Sakura.

He glared at the blond with an onyx eye. "Urusai!" The words fell bitterly and harshly, but his cheeks tinted with pink once more.

Before Naruto could add anything more, Kakashi clasped his mouth shut.

"Now, now," The older man began, pulling a struggling Naruto closer to his side. "Let's let the doctor check on her patient privately." He smiled.

Sakura looked back to the duo with narrowed, _oblivious_ eyes. "Why are you acting like strangers?" She asked. "It's not like-"

"Leave." Sasuke cut her off.

The pink haired doctor looked back to him and tilted her head, waiting for an explanation.

"Well," Kakashi interrupted, patting her head gently.

Two onyx eyes met a pair of emerald while one lone onyx watched on, annoyed.

"I'll leave it to you then, Sakura-chan." Kakashi smiled, earning a simple nod from the kunoichi. Also earning a deadly one-eyed glare from the injured man.

Sakura turned back to her patient as the duo left. "This isn't doing much." She stated, eyes focused on his rinnegan. "You'll need to recuperate properly. I know it's a long shot, but will you stay in the village longer while your eye heals-"

"Yes." He scolded himself inwardly. Perhaps he answered too quickly.

A smile spread on her lips.

"Will you be my doctor?" He was like a child asking for tomatoes-

Tomatoes? Do children usually _beg_ for tomatoes? Wait, _beg **-**_

"I'll make sure of it." Her emerald eyes glistened with mirth.

Was she laughing at him?

"I'm not begging..." He muttered defensively, looking away from her.

Her smile faltered, replaced by an amused look. Her cheeks flushed at the rare sight of him _pouting_. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it.

"I just don't trust anyone else to treat me." He added, looking up to her emerald eyes. "I only trust you."

Her flush darkened and she gave him a shy smile. "I'll take care of you." She promised.


End file.
